Apparatus foe beinounc



C. CONOVER. APPARATUS FOR BRINGING ABOUT AND CONTROLLING REACTIONS BETWEEN GASES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30; I919.

Patented Dec.'28, 1920.

' SHEET 1.

C. CONOVERI APPARATUS FOR BRINGING ABOUT AND CONTROLLING REACTIONS BETWEEN GASES.

2 swans-sum 2.

Patented Dec. 28,1920.

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amawwwboz APPLlCATlON FILED APR. 30.1919.

COURTNEY ooNovEn, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR BRINGING ABOUT AND CONTROLLING REACTIONS BETWEEN GASES I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed April 30, 1919. Serial No. 293,787.

(FILED UNDER THE Aer or vmnon s, 1883, 2 m. I.., 625.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, COURTNEY CoNovnR, a citizen of the United States of America, and an employee of the Department of Agriculture, residing in the city of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, whose post-ofiice addres's'is Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. (l, have invented a new and 'useful'Apparatu's for Bringing About and Controlling Reactions Between Gases, of which the following is a specification. i I

This application ismadeunder the Act of March 3, 1883, Chapter 1 13 (22 Stat, 625), and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the United States or any of its officers or employees in the prosecution of work for the Government, and any person in the United States, without payment to me of any royalty thereon. f

This invention relates to apparatus in which reactions between gases may be brought about, especially those reactions which are induced by catalysts and in which heat is generated.

The object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which shall be an improve ment over existing forms of apparatus in the following 2 respects: f

(a) The chamber in which reaction takes place is a sinuous .duct'of uniform cross section having no pockets or recesses through which portions of the gas stream would tend to move more slowly than the rest of the stream. This is an advantage since insome reactions it has been found that when the movement of gases is delayed in parts of the reaction chamber destruction of valuable material takes place H (6). Provision is made for cooling different parts of the reaction chamber in differ-.

. drawings.

One form of the apparatus is shown in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 1s a cross section ,of the apparatus"; Fig. 2. a half elevation and half longitudinalseotion; Fig. 3 a cross section of an air distributing chamber; Fig. 4: a longitudinal sectionofthe end of an air distributing chamber; F ig.'5 an elevation of the valveoperating mechanism. g

The parts of'the apparatus which come in contact with the reacting gases are made of a metal which is not quickly corroded by the gases and which'does not exert an injurious effect on the course ofthe reactionor which can be coated with a material which does not have such aninjuriousfefi'ect. t

The reaction chamber (1, Fig. 1) is a duct of uniform cross section folded backward and forward upon itself so asto mix the gases passing through it. Itstwo walls are cooling air could becpassed. The partition would form the end of the reaction chamber. This reaction chamber contains a catalyst which may lie-upon the bottom surfaces of the chamber or preferably is attached to the walls in the form of an adherent coating.

The shelves, 8, support the wallsof the reaction chamber by means of T bar supports, 9, or by other suitable means and may themselves be supported by brackets (not shown Preferably these walls should extend to inthe drawings) from the main frame work of the apparatus. Their main function is to force'air, blown in for cooling purposes, to

follow the walls of the reaction chamber 1.

The casing, 5, of the apparatus is supported on a frame work not shown in the The lower part of the apparatus is surrounded by heat insulating material, 10,

and 11. i

In the operation of the apparatusit is essential that coolingair should be forced to flow downward along the outside of the reaction chambera'nd should be introduced at different levels in the upper and middle entire breadth of the reaction chamber.

This could be approximately accomplished in several ways but I prefer the use of the devices and mechanism described as follows:

Longitudinal slits such as 6 are cut in the casing, 5. They extend the entire length of the apparatus. Gutside of the slits, 6, air distributing chambers (12,v Fig. 2) are fastened to the casing, 5. To these air is supplied under pressure. The flow of the air through the slits, 6, is regulated by the mechanism. shown in detail in Fig. 8.

The upper portions of the reservoirs, '12, are formed by pieces of metal, 13, which are rigid enough to resist distortion by the pressure of the air in the reservoir and strong enough to form firm supports for the mechanism of the valves.

A valve extends the entire length of the apparatus. It is essentially a tapered slot which-may be closed by a wedge. The slot is formed by the jaws, 16 and 18. The jaw 16 is bolted to the casing, 5, the holes in the casing being slightly elongated horizontally so as to allow for diflerences of expansion with heat if difiierent metals are used. The jaw, 18, maybe adjusted vertically by being forceddown by several screws, 19, against the wedge 17. When adjusted it is held in place by the packing, 20, compressed by the screws, 21. This packing also prevents the escape of air around the jaw. The valve is closed or opened by the wedge, 17 being forced into or drawn out of the slot. The wedge 17, is preferably level on its under side and tapered only on top so that its weight rests mainly on the jaw, 16, at all times. 7

The wedge, 17, is moved by means of spindles, 22, which are attached to it by joints which will allow lengthwise expansion of the wedge. The spindles pass through stufiing boxes, 23, in the walls of the reservoir. They are forced'forward or backward by the wheels, 24, which can revolve onlyin one plane, being held between the jawsjof the guidebracket, 26.

The wheels, 24, are worm gear wheels meshing into the worms, 25, several of which are operated on one shaft, 28. The shaft is rotated by means of the hand wheel, '27, Fig. 2. The worms, 25, are'fastened-to the shaft, 28, by set screws and may be released and operated independently for purposes of adjustment.

In order that the wedge, 17, may not meet resistance at the end of the slot, the slot is made somewhat longer than the wedge and is covered at the end by an expansion gate, 30. This is mounted on a plate guide, 33, and is held against the wedge by means of the weight, 32. The gate is fitted to the Wedge with a ground joint 31.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The lower half of the apparatus is heated by any suitable means; e. g., by blowing hot air into the reaction chamber, 1, at 3 and into the space outside the reaction chamber from the distributing chambers, 12. Q

\Vhen a temperature is reached at which the gases which are to be introduced will react, the hot air is shut off. The slots in the distributing chambers are all closed, and cool air under pressure is admitted to the chambers through the tubes, 15.

The gases which are to react are introduced at 3. When "they strike the hot catalyst in the reaction chamber reaction takes place and'heat' is'generated. 'As'reaction proceeds somepart of the reaction chamber where the reaction is most rapidmay be come heated to a point which is considered unsafe or'otherwise undesirable; also the lower part'of'the reaction chamber may be cooled 'to such an extent'bythe cool incoming gases that the'zone of reaction will rise progressively'higher in the apparatus. In either case certain of the valves are opened by means offt'he hand wheels 27. Sincetheopenings in 'the valves are very narrow slits "the pressure: 'in the reservoirs can be'kept' high'and; nearly constant and the flow of air "through'thefnarrow openings will not befappreciably effectedfby slight difi'erences of resistance inside'the apparatus or by currents in the air'in the distributing chambers. Hence the volume of air flowing'through any portion of a slit will be equal to that flowing'ithrough any other equal portion of the same slit.

The cool air flowing along the outside of the reaction chamber absorbs heat'iz'rom the hotter portions and becoming heated itself conveys heat tofthe lowerpart of the apparatus and serves to heat 'the incoming' gases.

Temperatures inthe apparatus are determinedji by means of thermocouples inserted at various points. 7

Having thus described my'invention I claim:

1.In an apparatus for bringin about and controlling reactions" between gases, the combination of a sinuous f reaction chamber with-a casing surrounding it' towhichEare attached shelves which "act {as 'baifies and;

force air introduced within the lcasi'ng'to follow the sinuosity ofthe reaction chamber.

2."In an apparatus for bringing about and controlling reactions between gases, the combination of a sinuous reaction "chamber with channels for the passagefof air along the walls of such reaction chamber, which channelshave openings at diflerent levels for the admission of air.

3. An apparatus for bringing about and controlling reactions between gases in which apparatus streams of'air are. caused to flow along the walls of a reaction chamber absorbing heat from the hotter portions of the reaction chamber and conveying this heat to the cooler portions of the reaction chamber.

4. In an apparatus for bringing about and controlling reactions between gases, a device for distributing air uniformly across the breadth of a reaction chamber, consisting of a reservoir for air communicating with the interior of a casing surrounding the reaction chamber through a narrow slit, the width of which may be adjusted.

5. In an apparatus for bringing about and controlling reactions between gases, a device for distributing air uniformly across the breadth of a reaction chamber, consisting of a reservoirfor air, communicating with the interior of a casing surrounding V the reaction chamber, through a valve having two jaws (one of which is adjustable in relation to the other) so placed as to form a slot, a wedge which'may be moved into or out of the slot, and expansion gates at each end of the wedge, the valve being operated by means of spindles attached to the back of the wedge and passing to the outside of the reservoir where by means of screw threads on the spindles, gear wheels on these screws, held by bracket clutches and rotated by worms on a common shaft, the spindles may be moved in or out, the whole device being substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I aflix mysignature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

COURTNEY CONOVER.

Witnesses:

H. D. GIBBS, L. A. SKINNER. 

